1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fastener for fixing wall-covering material to a batten, the fastener being of the type comprising a base plate suitable for being fixed to the batten, and at least one retaining tab for retaining the covering material and integrally formed with the base plate.
2. Prior Art
Covering materials which include at least one first edge with a longitudinally extending groove and at least one second edge on the opposite side to the first with a longitudinally extending tongue suitable for engaging in the groove of an adjacent piece of covering material, e.g. panels, clap-board, and decorative or insulating slabs, are usually fixed to wooden battens which have previously been fixed to a wall, a ceiling, or other surface to be covered. Fasteners of the type specified above have already been proposed for fixing such covering materials to wooden battens. The retaining tab of each fastener is generally cut out from a base plate and folded so as to have a first branch extending in a plane perpendicular to the base plate and to two of the parallel edges thereof, and a second branch which is parallel to said base plate and which is situated to one side of said plane. Such a fastener is generally placed on the edge of the covering material where it crosses a batten, with the second branch of the retaining tab being engaged in the groove of the covering material, and with the base plate of the fastener being pressed against the batten and being fixed thereto by nails or by staples passing through one or more holes or openings provided in that portion of the base plate which extends in the opposite direction (relative to the plane of the first branch of the retaining tab) to the direction in which the second branch of the retaining tab extends. Fasteners of this type have the advantage of being invisible after the tongue of the next piece of covering material has been engaged in the groove of the piece of covering material which has just been fixed to the batten. However, there are several drawbacks related to the fastener being fixed to the batten by nails or staples. Firstly, nails or staples tend to split or even break wooden battens. This is practically inevitable when the nail or staple is fixed near to an end of the batten. Secondly, nailing or stapling perpendicularly to the front face of a batten provides relatively poor resistance to the nail being drawn back out from the batten. Thirdly, there is a danger of loosening of the batten's own fixing, and as a result battens may become detached from the wall, ceiling or other support surface, or at best the assembly constituted by the battens and the covering material is held in place only relatively loosely. Fourthly, in order to fix covering material in the angle between two walls, it is necessary to leave a gap between one of the two walls and the edge of the covering material in order to make it possible for a fastener to be put into position and fixed. This gap must be at least as wide as the hammer or the stapler used for driving the nails or the staples. If such a gap is not provided, then the covering material must be fixed either by being directly nailed to the batten or else by nailing in place a corner strip, for example a quarter-round strip. In either case, there is a risk of damaging the covering material and/or of splitting the wooden battens, since this nailing necessarily takes place at the end of a batten.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,325,766 describes fixing a fastener including a base plate on a wooden beam by means of side fixing tabs, however additional nailing through the base plate is also necessary and the fastener is not provided for installing paneling or the like, but for installing covering planks which do not have tongues or grooves on their edges and which have fixing teeth provided on the fastener forced into their thicknesses. In other words, this prior fastener is not provided with retaining tabs for engaging in the groove of a panel or the like, as is the fastener of the present invention.